224 THE TIM BUXKElt PAPERS. 



it will be pretty hard to go off and leave them, but we 

 might say that, I suppose, when we start on a longer 

 journey. We can t expect to stay here forever, and a few 

 years more or less won t make any particular difference 

 with us, when we get into the promised land. Most of 

 us here in Hookertown have kept old age in view for a 

 good many years, and I guess we are about as comfortable 

 and jolly a set of old people as you will find among your 

 hundred thousand readers. We have most of us got good 

 houses that keep us just as comfortable and entertain our 

 friends as well as a house that rents in the city for a thou 

 sand dollars or more. We are as independent as wood- 

 choppers, on fuel, for if coal runs up to ten dollars a ton, 

 as it has this winter, we can say to the coal merchant, 

 &quot; No you don t, Mr.&quot; and turn to the wood-pile. We have 

 been using coal for several years, because it was cheaper 

 than it was to hire labor, and chop and cart the wood. 

 But there isn t a man of us but has a good wood lot, and 

 I guess there is more wood in this town than there was 

 fifty years ago. It is a great consolation to know where 

 your fuel can come from, in case of a pinch. And then in 

 case the house or barn wants repairs it is mighty con 

 venient to know that you have a living lumber yard close 

 by, where every shingle, plank, and timber, you need is on 

 hand. Twenty acres of woodland that you have watched 

 the growth of for forty years or more is about as good 

 as any bank stock I know of. I suppose I could sell the 

 timber on any acre of mine for two hundred dollars, to 

 say nothing of the fuel. That same land cost me only 

 seventeen dollars an acre. Perhaps some folks who are 

 in such a mighty hurry to cut off their forests might as 

 well stop and cipher a little. 



And while I am talking of trees as a shelter for old 

 age, I want to say a good word for orchards, apples, and 

 indeed fruits of all kinds. I waked up to planting apple 

 trees when I was young, and I think I have now about as 



